Welcome to Audio Advice's top picks for the best soundbars with Dolby Atmos in 2025! We've spent countless hours in our home theater lab testing tons of soundbars to provide the most reliable and informative recommendations.

This article will introduce you to our top picks in various categories and guide you in choosing the right soundbar for your needs and budget. Whether you're looking for the best overall soundbar, the best value, or the best for a specific application, we've got you covered. So, if you're in the market for a new soundbar, read on to find the perfect one for you!

Best Soundbar Under $500

Klipsch Flexus Core 200

While it’s not the cheapest option out there, its impressive sound quality and future expandability make it a fantastic value for the price.

The Flexus Core 200 features two 2.25” upward-firing speakers that bounce sound off the ceiling to create that immersive Dolby Atmos bubble. This design is a big reason why it stands out in its price range compared to competitors like the Sonos Beam Gen 2, which lacks true upward-firing drivers.

Many soundbars in this category rely on “acoustic trickery” to simulate height effects, making it seem like the sound is coming from above or behind you. While this tech works fairly well—especially if you need to place the soundbar where upward-firing drivers might be blocked—it doesn’t quite match the realism of sound physically bouncing off the ceiling. If you’ve got a flat ceiling with no obstructions and can place the Core 200 in a clear, open spot, you’re in for an incredible Dolby Atmos movie experience.

It’s also equipped with four front-firing drivers tuned by Klipsch Acousticians, dual 4” built-in subwoofers, and a dedicated center-channel tweeter for crystal-clear dialogue. One of our favorite features is the Dialogue Boost, which lets you adjust dialogue clarity directly on the soundbar. Unlike other soundbars with this feature, Klipsch gives you three levels of adjustment—low, medium, and high—so you can fine-tune voices to your liking.

The dedicated app adds even more control, allowing you to tweak the EQ for a personalized sound and activate Night Mode, which lowers loud noises so you won’t disturb your neighbors. Bluetooth is built-in for streaming music from your phone, but the soundbar lacks features like AirPlay, Spotify Connect, WiFi audio, and auto room calibration. If those are must-haves in this price category for you, you might want to consider the Sonos Beam Gen 2 instead.

That said, the Core 200 really impressed us during testing. In action-packed movies like 6 Underground, where dialogue can easily get drowned out by explosions, the Dialogue Boost made every word intelligible. In dialogue-heavy films like The Irishman it showcased the richness of voices without sounding tinny or flat.

When you pair the Core 200 with the optional Flexus Sub 100 and Surround 100 speakers, it transforms into a full home theater system that creates an incredibly realistic Dolby Atmos bubble. With its exceptional sound, future expandability, and a sub-$500 price tag, the Flexus Core 200 is a fantastic entry point for building an immersive home theater setup.

Best Soundbar Under $1,000

Sonos Arc Ultra

Plus, if you own a pair of Sonos Ace headphones, you can seamlessly transfer the sound to them and enjoy dynamic head tracking for an immersive Dolby Atmos experience.

It also has Alexa, Sonos Voice Control, Spotify Connect, AirPlay 2, Bluetooth support, and you can control your music directly through the Sonos app. If you want to level up your setup, you can pair it with up to two Sonos subwoofers and either Era 100 or Era 300 speakers for surround sound. With two Era 300s and a couple of Sub 4s, you’re looking at one of the most incredible soundbar-based home theater systems we’ve ever heard. Sure, it’s a premium setup, but the sound is absolutely worth it and is really only bested by real box stereo speakers with an AVR. And even then, you’ll need to run cables throughout your room and install Atmos speakers to get the same immersiveness that the Sonos setup provides.

Even if you stick to just the soundbar, the Arc Ultra delivers decent bass and dialogue, but where it really shined was its great Dolby Atmos effects. For this reason, the very first thing we’d recommend for much better sound is adding a Sonos sub, as it improves the low end and allows the bar to focus on the mids and highs for better vocals, giving you a much more balanced setup. During our testing, we revisited a scene we used to test the original Arc from The Irishman, where crickets chirp in the background. In a Dolby Atmos theater, you’d hear those crickets coming from above and behind you—and the Arc Ultra nailed it, creating a 3D bubble of sound using its side and upward-firing drivers. It was hands-down the most convincing Atmos experience we’ve heard without adding surround speakers. Plus, the new speech enhancement feature lets you use low, medium, or high settings to help give you a clear dialogue that is so much better than the speakers built into your TV.

At just under $1,000, the Sonos Arc Ultra is an incredible value. It sounds phenomenal, and you’ll always have the option to upgrade later if you want to create a next-level home theater.

Best All-In-One Soundbar

JBL Bar 1300X

One of the most distinctive features of the JBL Bar 1300X is its detachable surround speakers, similar to those first introduced on the JBL Bar 9.1. At Audio Advice, we love when audio engineers push the limits and test new ideas to bring more immersive sound into your home. The rechargeable detachable speakers were arguably one of the main reasons the Bar 9.1 was so wildly successful, and JBL brought them to another level on the Bar 1300X. Oh, and these new ones are rated to last up to 10 hours per charge! These can be placed on shelves behind you, or speaker stands, or they even come with a mounting bracket to attach them to your walls if you wish. Dock them back to the soundbar or plug them in via USB-C to recharge them.

There is a great app included to adjust EQ, calibrate the soundbar with automatic room correction, browse different music services, and play your music via WiFi. You also get Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, AirPlay, and Chromecast. Plus, unlike any of the other soundbars on this list, the Bar 1300X has 3 HDMI 2.1 inputs, allowing you to easily plug your gaming console, Blu-ray player, and cable box directly into the soundbar and have one single HDMI cable from the eARC connection to your TV and control the volume and HDMI switching with your TV remote! You’ll be able to enjoy 4K/120 fps content with uncompressed Dolby Atmos, HDR, and Dolby Vision passthrough. We love the ease of use of being able to plug in the latest-gen Xbox or PS5 and enjoy 4K content at 120 fps. Once you experience high frame rates in 4K resolution while gaming, you will never want to go back!

You also get a wireless subwoofer along with the unique detachable surround speakers. In our testing, the sub had a ton of depth and really brought the entire setup to the next level. Characters' voices sound so much better on this soundbar than your standard TV speakers, especially when you use the PureVoice technology that JBL has implemented. We do wish you were able to adjust the PureVoice settings instead of just turning it on or off, but it’s one of the few nitpicky things we found about this soundbar.

There is so much to love with the Bar 1300X. JBL really gives you everything you could ask for from this soundbar and makes it extremely versatile, which will fit the bill for so many people in apartments or spaces that need some flexibility. On top of it all, it has some serious power and has a great sound that JBL is known for.

Best Soundbar Alternative

Sony Bravia Theater Quad

The Bravia Theater Quad is an upgraded version of the popular Sony HTM-A9 system, and it includes four three-way speakers: a three-and-three-eighths woofer, a two-and-three-eighths mid-bass driver, a three-fourth-inch tweeter, all facing forward, and an upward-firing three-and-one-eighth Atmos driver on the top.

Also included is the control box that connects to your TV via eARC, and it supports 8K HDR, 4K 120, Dolby Vision, 360 Reality Audio, Dolby Atmos, IMAX Enhanced, DTS:X, and Hi-Res Audio. It even supports VRR, ALLM, and SBTM for gaming when using a PS5. You’ll also be able to connect wirelessly with Spotify Connect, Apple Airplay, and Bluetooth.

One of our favorite features is the ability to place the four speakers pretty much anywhere in your room without having to worry about each speaker being in the perfect location, thanks to Sony’s impressive Sound Field Optimization tech. Not everyone can put their speakers in the most ideal locations, so having that flexibility can be pretty attractive.

We tested the Bravia Theater Quad with many different movies and music to see how it stacked up against different soundbars. Specifically, the race scene in Underground is one we continually come back to because of its sound effects that swirl all around you in a proper Dolby Atmos theater. This Sony system, when paired with the Sony SA-SW3 or SA-SW5 subwoofer, can really transport you right into the middle of the action in this movie, allowing you to hear everything from the glass shattering behind and above you to the loud explosions that hit you right in your chest. Plus, thanks to their Zoom Voice 3 tech, the character's voices sound like they’re coming right from the screen, even without a dedicated center channel. It honestly feels like there are more than just four speakers in the room.

However, there is one big caveat to this system. Most soundbars greatly benefit from adding a subwoofer, but the Bravia Theater Quad needs a Sony wireless subwoofer to make it a system worthy of your consideration. It’s not an inexpensive solution, but it’s a very effective one that will fit the bill for many people who want to have an almost invisible and immersive home theater system.

Best Standalone Soundbar

Devialet DIONE

Although this soundbar is the only one on the list that doesn’t allow you to add rear speakers or a subwoofer, it is by far the best-sounding standalone soundbar we’ve ever heard. Sure, a full Sonos setup might outdo it in terms of spatial sound, but that requires multiple speakers to build out your system. When it comes to having a soundbar and nothing else in your room, the Dione stands on top as king. We picked this as the best-sounding soundbar in our last evaluation, and to this day, we still think it’s the best option as a standalone soundbar.

One of the test scenes we used when evaluating these soundbars was from The Adam Project, where there is an attack with a lot of deep bass. This scene showed just how much the Dione stands apart from the other soundbars. The vocals are warm and natural, and the sound is phenomenal from the Dione. The bass is also quite impressive and is probably the best we’ve heard in any soundbar by itself. Of course, we’d love to add a subwoofer to this soundbar, but if you don’t want one or don’t have the space, you will have a great time with the Dione, as it almost feels like there is actually a subwoofer in the room with you. It handles deep bass expertly and can really bring a movie to life.

Devialet’s Intelligence Processor, SPACE™, AVL™, SAM®, and ORB® technology are all packed into a slim, beautiful soundbar and make this an outstanding soundbar for someone who just wants a standalone soundbar that sounds and looks awesome.

To learn about each of these technologies and the additional features included, watch our full in-depth review of the Devialet Dione. But take it from us: all of this high-end tech pushes the boundaries of what a soundbar is capable of.

Overall Recommendation

While not quite the same immersion as a full home theater installation with separate speakers all around the room, Atmos-enabled soundbars with upward-firing speakers built in & a wireless subwoofer are a fantastic way to experience Dolby Atmos in a living room or any bedroom. A full surround sound installation requires careful planning for the layout of all your speakers to ensure the best sound. Our Home Theater Speaker Layout Options will guide you, but If you want to play around with some options, check out our free Home Theater Design Tool. You can also chat with us to explore all of your options.

We spend hours in our lab testing many soundbars, and we are confident that you will be impressed with any of the picks on this list. We are consistently updating our lists as new soundbars come to market, so be sure to check back if you’re not quite ready to upgrade. If you need more help choosing which is best for you, watch our reviews for each soundbar to learn about every feature and how we thought they performed.

We’re here to help!

Audio Advice has been in the industry since 1978, and throughout the years, we’ve developed a team of professionals who live and breathe all things audio and video. We spend countless hours testing and reviewing every product we sell to be sure it stands up to our extremely high-quality standards. With our state-of-the-art home theater audio lab, we can become experts in our products and provide our customers with in-depth, honest feedback.

When you buy from Audio Advice, you’re buying from a trusted seller since 1978. We offer Free Shipping, Lifetime Expert Support, and our Price Guarantee. We look forward to serving you!

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a soundbar?

If you’re still using your TV audio, a soundbar is a great first start to better audio! They are also great choices for smaller places where you don’t want big speakers taking up too much space. All the soundbars on our list will give you an incredibly immersive experience.

Can I use my TV remote to control my soundbar?

Yes, if the soundbar has HDMI Arc or HDMI eARc, you can use your TV remote to control your soundbar. All of the options on our list of the best soundbars have this option.

What makes a soundbar better?

A soundbar has dedicated speakers that are much larger than the ones on your TV. They are also perfectly positioned to shoot into your room and envelope you with a much more immersive sound that is higher quality than your standard TV audio. When you add Dolby Atmos capabilities like the ones on our list, you are stepping into a new world of audio that will blow your mind!

How do I choose a soundbar?

Soundbars can be tricky to decipher which is best for you. There are a lot on the market today that have similar features. That’s why we created a list of our favorite ones that we have rigorously tested to ensure anyone who chooses them will be happy. You will need to consider your room size and other factors when choosing, so we also give you examples of the ideal person to buy each one.

Do soundbars need an amplifier or receiver?

All the soundbars on our list DO NOT need an amplifier or receiver. This is because they are all self-powered. Some passive soundbars on the market will require an amplifier or receiver. If you’re interested in that option, it’s best to discuss it with one of our audio experts first.

Is HDMI or optical better for soundbars?

HDMI allows you to pass higher resolutions to your soundbar than optical will. All of the soundbars on this list have ARC or eARC, which are capable of high-resolution sound and the ability to control your soundbar with your TV remote.